Workshop focuses on recycling & composting for restaurants.

Written and published September 2013 by Olivia Engel, Green Dining Alliance Program Coordinator

The Green Dining Alliance hosted its first educational workshop at the tail end of this lovely summer. Four-star Flagship Member, Schlafly Bottleworks hosted the event on August 29th and provided an array of 100% local, house-made delicacies while professionals from the restaurant industry, local waste diversion companies, and the county health department gathered together for sharing ideas and experiences.

Blue Skies Recycling, Republic Services, St. Louis Composting, Meridian and Waste Management all came to talk to shop. Tom Flood led the group on a tour of the facilities, highlighting Schlafly Bottleworks’ waste diversion efforts. The facility, which includes a brewery, bar and restaurant, is a veteran at composting and recycling – providing a strong example for best practices.

The tour ended in the Bottleworks’ on-site garden, where vegetable scraps from the kitchen are composted for fertilizer, and pounds and pounds of produce are harvested each day for fresh cooking.

After the tour, the GDA’s Jaime Kelley introduced the subject matter and speakers. Gary Gilliam from Resource Management in Earth City offered an extensive look at the resources and infrastructure behind recycling.

GDA’s hand-picked highlights:

• 

  Gary Gilliam presenting to the crowd.

  Why we should be recycling EVERY aluminum can: The smelting of aluminum requires mined virgin resources, including bauxite. All of the bauxite in Missouri has already been mined for use in aluminum cans, at least half of which end up in landfills.

• The amount of energy saved when you recycle an aluminum can versus manufacturing it from virgin materials, can be approximated to half that can full of petroleum. Think of what you’re saving the next time you toss a can into your recycling bin!
  • To put it further into perspective: The energy it takes to replace all of the aluminum cans wasted every year in the United States is equivalent to 16 million barrels of oil – enough to power one million cars for an entire year.
• Gary pointed out that not only is this extremely wasteful, but we should see this “trash” as a local resource. We’ve got tons and tons of recyclable goods sitting in trash cans, with more entering the waste stream every day – and all of them can be converted into marketable raw products.

Also, Gary repeatedly brought up the point that the recycling industry is always changing, and rapidly. As technology expands, so do our options! That’s one reason why it’s good to have a support system like the GDA or St. Louis Green when you’re greening your home or business.

After Gary, GDA’s Olivia Engel presented the case study for a smaller operation – Gelateria del Leone on South Grand, which has recently been certified as a 4-star GDA Member. Olivia highlighted how even in a small space with a budget to match, the Gelateria works toward sustainability every day by:

• reducing waste and petroleum-use by buying locally and in bulk when possible;
• making almost everything from scratch, in-house;
• re-using the plastic dairy containers shipped in from Marcoot Jersey Creamery; and,
• recycling their waste, composting their coffee grounds, and goals for composting more vegetable scraps in the future.

Not to mention that owner Chris and superwoman staff member Joanna started an urban farm in Tower Grove East. Now they have local, organic produce for sale and included in dishes served at the café (shipped to S. Grand via Joanna’s bike).

After the case study, Jaime stepped in to detail how the GDA will be collecting waste stream data from the St. Louis area. There is no data currently available for the environmental impact of St. Louis restaurants – so the GDA is on the case!

Stay tuned for on-line educational materials from the event. In the meantime, if you’re hungry for a spread like this… you know where to find it.